Lingaraj Mandir - Orissa

This temple visit just had it so right....it was early in the morning, a light drizzle in the air, the trees with a just washed look, an in itself beautiful feel.......... and bonus, because of the rain there was almost no one at the temple.

In that backdrop, an over thousand year old space.  It's not just time from back then, it's a space from back then. A structure within four high walls that's like suspended in time.

                                  

Okay, really speaking......the temple itself is also very imposing in terms of size, expanse and also aesthetics.  The main gopuram is tall, at over 150 feet in height and the carvings and sculpture  so intricate, delicate and detailed that it's simple and straight, jaw dropping awe inspiring. It made me rethink the term scale. Next time I say,' this is good but it's not scalable', I'll think Lingaraj temple :)

The temple is spread within a large courtyard, with the central gopuram housing the sanctum sanctorum,  and a lot of smaller gopurams of varying sizes, 150 of them, some on raised platforms, some at ground level and some which you descend to through steep flights of stairs that seem to go to the very bowels of the earth.  What with the innumerable snake idols around, while tempted, I was too scared to go down those.  

While the temple is 1200 years old, and parts of it date back to the sixth century, what's wonderful is that it feels untouched,  no paints and no varnishes, so the aura of pure timelessness is just there. Thanks there to the archaeology department, as it's more historical than religious I think.

The main deity is unique; it's a hari hara lingam, a half shiva and a half vishnu embodiment. which was interesting, like a woven together sustenance and destruction. The actual lingam is just a few inches off the ground..... a svayambu lingam, ( self originated lingam). 

The temple also has a black granite idol of Shiva as tri bhubaneshwar, lord of the three worlds and is daily bathed with water, milk and .....hold your breath....... marijuana. Shiva needs his chillum in all forms I guess. 

Brought to mind a chat between Swaroop and Diksha; They were talking about Amit Tripati's 'The Immortals of Meluha', and I remember them using words like Rock Star and Cool Dude in talking of Lord Shiva. Not for nothing...who gets bathed in Marijuana :)

The concept of how truth or reality are in essence infinite concepts, and nothing infinite can be grasped by the human mind..... because the mind is still finite, and that effort breaches the spaces between the conscious and the subconscious. Makes your head spin na? My head actually went into a spin as the place provokes all of that, in terms of experience and thought. Brought to mind a plaque I'd read in Tirupathi a long time ago, it explains it best;  a suspended moment of expanded consciousness

It's what made it surreal..... all of that and the energy of the place.